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^mrrican  Hnissicrnarv  ^ssociattan 

287  Fourtlr  .^utnxtr,  5Criu  51at'k,  -N. 


Our  Leper  Church  at  Molokai 


By  Rev.  Rowland  Backus  Do^e,  Wailuku,  Maui,  T.  H. 


Many  readers  of  this  message  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that 
Congregationalists  have  a  church  for  the  lepers.  But  such 
is  the  case. 

Father  Damien,  that  famous  Catholic,  did  splendid  work  among 
these  unfortunate  people  of  Molokai,  and  has  been  justly  praised  by 
Charles  Warren  Stoddard  and  many  others. 

Seven  years,  however,  before  Father  Damien  began  his  work,  our 
own  Congregational  Church  was  organized.  This  was  in  the  year 

1866,  the  very  year, 
in  fact,  that  the 
Hawaiian  Govern¬ 
ment  established 
that  remarkable 
institution,  now 
world-famous,  the 
Molokai  Leper 
Settlement.  Four 
years  later,  located 
in  the  very  heart 
of  the  leper  village, 
our  present  meet¬ 
ing-house  was  erected.  The  church  is  regularly  reported  in  the  Year 
Book  under  “Hawaii,  Kalaupapa.” 

In  the  center  of  the  picture  of  our  leper  congregation,  with  his 
little  daughter’s  hand  in  his,  stands  our  Rev.  David  Kaai,  who  for  the 
last  four  years  has  faithfully  ministered  to  his  sixty  or  more  members. 
All  of  his  people  are  not  here,  for  the  second  congregation  of  his 
church  worships  at  Kalawao,  the  village  beyond  Kalaupapa.  The 
attendance  upon  his  services  is  much  larger  than  the  reported  mem- 
bersliip,  and  his  parish  includes  the  whole  settlement,  for  many  lepers 
prefer  to  retain  their  membership  in  their  home  churches,  and  not  a 
few  are  absolutely  unable  to  attend  public  worship  because  of  their 
physical  condition.  The  Sunday-school  reports  about  160  members 


LEPER  CHURCH  AT  KALAWAO. 


and  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  84.  Nearly  every  week  par¬ 
ishioners  are  added  from  distant  parts  of  the  territory’,  and  every  year 
our  minister  brings  to  many  sufferers  the  last  word  of  comfort. 

Rev.  Mr.  Kaai  is 


LEPER  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH  AT  KALAUPAPA. 


not  a  leper.  Al¬ 
though  he  mingles 
freel}"  with  his  peo¬ 
ple,  going  to  them 
at  all  times  to  read 
and  pray  with  them, 
he  is  careful  and  is 
.still  “clean.” 

On  August  4th, 
1 90S,  as  agent  of 
the  Hawaiian  Board 
of  Maui  and  Mo¬ 
lokai,  and  as  mis¬ 
sionary  of  the 
American  Mis¬ 
sionary  Association,  I  visited  the  Leper  Settlement  in  the  interests 
of  our  church  there.  I  first  received  permission  from  the  Board  of 
Health  in  Honolulu,  for  no  one  can  enter  the  leper  confines  without 
such  a  permit.  The  steamer  lands  at  Kalaupapa  once  a  week,  but  I 
descended  into  the  settlement  on  horseback  from  the  bluff,  which 
rises  abruptly  from 
the  plain  to  the 
height  of  two  thou¬ 
sand  feet.  Aside 
from  the  narrow, 
wellguarded  bridle¬ 
path,  this  bluff  is 
absolutely  inacces¬ 
sible.  It  drops  di¬ 
rectly  into  the  sea, 
and  these  two 
natural  barriers 
shut  off  the  lepers 
from  the  rest  of  the  kalawao. 

world. 

I  vi.sited  every  part  of  the  settlement,  and  will  only  say  the 
day  was  filled  with  some  of  the  most  depressing  experiences  of 
my  life.  Many  cases,  of  course,  were  not  as  advanced  as  others. 


Amonp^  the  inmates  I  saw  several  w'lio,  a  short  time  before,  had  been 
in  other  parts  of  my  extensive  field  of  thirty-six  churches. 

I  was  impressed  with  the  splendid  care  the  government  is  giving 

these  people,  with 
the  sacrifice  of  the 
Catholic  sisters, 
who  are  doing  such 
noble  work  for  the 
lepers  in  their 
charge,  and  the 
quiet  spirit  of  help¬ 
fulness  and  devo¬ 
tion  of  Superinten¬ 
dent  McVeigh,  Drs. 
Goodhue  and  Toll¬ 
man  and  their  as¬ 
sistants, all  of  whom 
are  patiently  min- 

LEPER  MEN  AND  BOYS.  ISteriug  tO  tllCSe 

afflicted  people. 

The  service  in  our  church  in  the  evening  I  can  never  forget.  I 
looked  into  the  faces  of  perhaps  one  hundred  and  thirty  lepers. 

Most  of  the  men  and  women  had  splendid  physique,  but  they 
were  emaciated  by  the  disease,  which  has  never  been  cured  except  by 
the  touch  of  Jesus. 

I  felt  so  helpless  to 
do  anything  for 
them,  that  I  could 
do  nothing  for  their 
physical  condition. 

The  only  thing  pos¬ 
sible  was  to  help 
them  mentally  and 
spirituall)^  As  I 
preached,  they  lis¬ 
tened  eagerly, many 
leaning  forward  in 
their  earnestness. 

At  the  end  of  my  leper  cottage. 

sermon  I  told  the  people  I  had  known  little  of  their  church  work  and 
less  of  their  needs,  and  I  felt  sure  that  few  of  our  American  church 
people  knew  that  we  had  a  church  among  them.  They  asked  me  to 


tell  our  home  people  about  them,  and  I  said  I  would.  The  hopeless 
expression  on  some  of  their  faces  brightened  for  the  moment.  The 
more  cheerful  members  of  the  congregation  said:  “  Mahalo,”  which 
means  “Thank  5’ou.”  I  can  but  feel  if  our  generous-hearted  people 
realized  that  of  all  the  many  protestant  denominations  in  America  we 
alone  had  a  church  among  the  Molokai  lepers,  we  would  not  neglect 
the  opportunity  of  helping  them. 

The  present  building,  erected  thirty  years  ago,  is  in  a  dilapidated 
condition.  We  minister  to  the  larger  proportion  of  the  inmates  of 
the  settlement.  If  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  carried  on  among 
these  most  helpless  and  pitiable  people  of  America,  to  whom  the 
church  brings  practically  their  only  comfort,  we  must  do  our  utmost 
to  make  the  opportunities  for  worship  adequate  to  their  needs. 

I  should  add  that  I  have  received  special  permission  from  Super¬ 
intendent  McVeigh,  in  charge  of  the  settlement,  to  use  the  pictures 
that  accompany  this  article,  some  of  which  he  himself  kindly  fur¬ 
nished.  Such  a  permission  is  granted  in  only  rare  instances.  He 
wished  me  to  use  the  material  he  gave  me  so  that  the  work  done  for 
the  lepers  and  the  needs  of  our  protestant  church  might  be  clearly 
understood  in  the  mainland  churches  of  America. 


Eastern  District, 

615  Congregational  House, 
Boston,  Mass. 


Western  District, 

153  LaSalle  Street, 
Chicago,  Ill. 


Pacific  District, 

21  Brenham  Place,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


